different between compound vs alchemy

English

Etymology 1

Possibly from Malay kampong, kampung (“group of buildings, village”), via Dutch or Portuguese .

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?mpa?nd/
• (US) enPR: k?m'pound, IPA^(key): /?k?mpa?nd/

Noun

compound (plural compounds)

1. An enclosure within which workers, prisoners, or soldiers are confined
2. An enclosure for secure storage.
3. A group of buildings situated close together, e.g. for a school or block of offices

Synonyms

• (enclosure within which workers, prisoners, or soldiers are confined): gaol/jail, pen, pound, prison

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English compounen, from Middle French componre, compondre (“to put together”), from Latin compon?, from Latin com- (“together”) + pon? (“to put”).

Pronunciation

• adj. and noun (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?mpa?nd/
• adj. and noun (US) enPR: k?m'pound, IPA^(key): /?k?mpa?nd/
• verb (US, UK) enPR: k?mpound', IPA^(key): /k?m?pa?nd/
• Rhymes: -a?nd

Adjective

compound (not comparable)

1. composed of elements; not simple

   a compound word

   • 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard

     Compound substances are made up of two or more simple substances.

2. (mathematics) dealing with numbers of various denominations of quantity, or with processes more complex than the simple process

   compound addition; compound proportion

3. (music) An octave higher than originally (i.e. a compound major second is equivalent to a major ninth).

Synonyms

• (composed of elements): composite

Antonyms

• (composed of elements): simple

Derived terms

• compound chocolate
• compound interest
• compound leaf
• compoundly

Translations

Noun

compound (plural compounds)

2. Anything made by combining several things.
3. (chemistry, dated) A substance made from any combination elements.
5. (chemistry) A substance formed by chemical union of two or more ingredients in definite proportions by weight.
6. (linguistics) A lexeme that consists of more than one stem; compound word; for example laptop, formed from lap and top.
7. (rail transport) a compound locomotive, a steam locomotive with both high-pressure and low-pressure cylinders.

Synonyms

• (anything made by combining several things): amalgam, blend, combination, composite, mix, mixture
• (word): compound word

Hyponyms

• (word): closed compound, hyphenated compound, open compound
• (chemistry): chemical compound

Translations

Verb

compound (third-person singular simple present compounds, present participle compounding, simple past and past participle compounded)

1. (transitive) To form (a resulting mixture) by combining different elements, ingredients, or parts.

   to compound a medicine
2. (transitive) To assemble (ingredients) into a whole; to combine, mix, or unite.

   • We have the power of altering […] and compounding those images […] into all the varieties of picture.

3. (transitive) To modify or change by combination with some other thing or part; to mingle with something else.
4. (transitive, law) To settle by agreeing on less than the claim, or on different terms than those stipulated.

   to compound a debt

5. (transitive) To settle amicably; to adjust by agreement; to compromise.
6. (intransitive) To come to terms of agreement; to agree; to settle by a compromise; usually followed by with before the person participating, and for before the thing compounded or the consideration.
   • 1602, Richard Carew, Survey of Cornwall

     [Cornwall] compounded to furnish ten oxen after Michaelmas for thirty pounds.

   • Compound for sins they are inclined to / By damning those they have no mind to.

7. (transitive, obsolete) To compose; to constitute.
8. (intransitive, finance) To increase in value with interest, where the interest is earned on both the principal sum and prior earned interest.
9. (transitive) To worsen a situation.
10. (horse racing, intransitive) Of a horse: to fail to maintain speed.
    • 1855, The Sporting Review (volume 34, page 240)

      At the hill, the Warrior must have been at least ten lengths in front of Wild Dayrell; but he compounded about 200 yards on the T. Y. C. side of the Red House.

Usage notes

The usage in sense 9 above, “to worsen a situation” is widespread but not wholly accepted. The original meaning of the word (see senses 4, 5 and 6 above) implies resolution of a problem, not worsening. It has been suggested (Fraser 1973) that the reverse usage arose by confusion with phrases such as compound interest.

Synonyms

• (to come to terms of agreement): agree
• (to put together): assemble, blend, combine, join, join together, mix, put together, unite
• (to add to): augment, increase
• (law: to settle by agreeing on less than the claim): settle
• (to compose): form, make up; see also Thesaurus:compose

Derived terms

• compoundable

Translations

References

Further reading

• Compound in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

English

Etymology

From Old French alkimie, arquemie (French alchimie), from Medieval Latin alkimia, from Arabic ?????????????? (al-k?miy??), from Ancient Greek ?????? (kh?meía) or ?????? (khumeía) originally “a mingling, infusion, juice, liquid, as extracted from gold” and later “alchemy”, perhaps from ????? (Kh?mía, “black earth (ancient name for Egypt)”) and/or ????? (khumós, “juice, sap”). (Compare Spanish alquimia and Italian alchimia).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?ælk?mi/

Noun

alchemy (countable and uncountable, plural alchemies)

1. (uncountable) The ancient search for a universal panacea, and of the philosopher's stone, that eventually developed into chemistry.
   • 1605, Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning, IV. (11),^[1]

     And yet surely to alchemy this right is due, that it may be compared to the husbandman whereof Æsop makes the fable; that, when he died, told his sons that he had left unto them gold buried underground in his vineyard; and they digged over all the ground, and gold they found none; but by reason of their stirring and digging the mould about the roots of their vines, they had a great vintage the year following: so assuredly the search and stir to make gold hath brought to light a great number of good and fruitful inventions and experiments, as well for the disclosing of nature as for the use of man’s life.
2. (countable) The causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 3,^[2]

     O, he sits high in all the people’s hearts:

     And that which would appear offence in us,

     His countenance, like richest alchemy,

     Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

   • 1640, George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, etc., in The Remains of that Sweet Singer of the Temple George Herbert, London: Pickering, 1841, p. 143,^[3]

     No alchymy to saving.

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2,^[4]

     Then of their session ended they bid cry

     With trumpet’s regal sound the great result:

     Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim

     Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy,

     By herald’s voice explained; the hollow Abyss

     Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell

     With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim.

   • 1840, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “A Defence of Poetry,”^[5]

     [Poetry] transmutes all that it touches, and every form moving within the radiance of its presence is changed by wondrous sympathy to an incarnation of the spirit which it breathes: its secret alchemy turns to potable gold the poisonous waters which flow from death through life; it strips the veil of familiarity from the world, and lays bare the naked and sleeping beauty, which is the spirit of its forms.

   • 2016, Boris Johnson

     There is such a rich thesaurus now of things that I have said that have been, one way or another, through what alchemy I do not know, somehow misconstrued, that it would really take me too long to engage in a full global itinerary of apology to all concerned.

3. (computing, slang, countable) Any elaborate transformation process or algorithm.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• elixir of life
• philosophers' stone

References

• alchemy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• alchemy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “alchemy”, in Online Etymology Dictionary